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Anticipation is one of the most joyful delights, isn’t it? I have one hour of it left before me.
One hour to sit in front of the full-spectrum lamp and banish the winter blues before getting a hustle on and getting us all ready and out of the house.
One hour upon which to think
…of the fact that Mother Nature did her best to make me enjoy this little getaway by dropping the temperature back to -29. (Toronto is currently -4)
…of the fact that for 3 days I will not cook or clean or stop someone from bickering.
…of the fact that I will be visiting a yarn store with money in my pocket and two sweaters in mind.
…of the fact that I have stopped wishing for a grey sweater because I have made myself a grey sweater.
…of the fact that I will have free time on my hands and new places to wander.
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…one hour of anticipation left to me.
The world seems a little soft today, as though there is a cushioning layer between it and myself. It means that I don’t have much hustle, but then again I have lots of appreciation.
I’m happy in a dozen small ways.
Noticing the way the light is waking up the day rather than the day beginning far earlier than the light.
Enjoying the way Tias looks me in the eyes.
Watching Sandra pole-vault into womanhood with grace, humour, and intellect.
Reading a silly book.
Anticipating a getaway. Toronto. For a few days. But it isn’t here, I won’t have to tidy or cook, and there will be dozens of moments with new sounds, new streets, new shops, new ideas. The kids stay here, and Rainer gets to feel like he’s spoiling me rotten. Which he is. I’ve enviously watched him leave for this conference year after year at a season when I desperately want change and distraction. And now I’m going along.
Smiling while basking in the glow of knowing that my Olympic vest/T-shirt is blocking upstairs and will be ready to wear on Wednesday when we leave for Toronto.
Watching the kids rediscover Lego.
Finding Sandra’s paintings and Tias’ drawings all over the house.
Finally posting the picture of my Olympic crochet:
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It’s my second Ravelympics project, but the first finished. My very first crochet motif. I made it 2 rounds bigger so that I can use it as a pot holder. Crochet reminds me of sketching somehow – the way you draw it stitch by stitch, line by line.
Pattern: Motif #25, “Beyond the Square” by Edie Eckman
Yarn: Noro Kureyon, unknown colour
My sister and I are doing a CAL. Every month I’m going to send her a postcard with a motif number on it and that’s what we’ll work on that month. She’s quite good at crochet, and I was glad she was around last weekend to help me negotiate this motif, even though it is so very simple.
We are having a blast watching the Olympics, are you? We love the oddity of these sports, so many clearly invented by people with cabin fever: “We have slippery surfaces and too much energy…what do you say to a little speed?!”
I was curious, while watching the Opening Ceremonies, what people from other nations thought of it. It was often breath-taking, often beautiful, often evocative. The bits where things didn’t work so well had me holding my breath – oh, dear, oh dear, please let it work….
Often, it was the words that caught my attention. Donald Sutherland’s reading of the various quotes was incredible, wasn’t it? Sweeping words, a deep, measured voice. Of course, you know the quotes really played to my love of quotes. But…quotes? Really? We’re citing in an international display? How incredible and rare was that?
If you’re wondering what Canadians are thinking about it, here is a piece written by a newspaper columnist that I particularly enjoyed:“The Idea of Canada, on display”.
“But on Friday night in a building whose roof is held up with air, it was a strange and moving play, about the wavering but rooted experience of being a Canadian.”
His point about the importance of the words in the ceremony being brave in this ‘word-hating’ age of sound bites is bang on as are his obsevervations about the speech given by the CEO of the Vancouver Games.
A few other interesting links for those loving the Olympic coverage:
Blogger and yarn-dyer extraordinaire Ruth of Knitting on Impulse, lives in Whistler and has a husband who is volunteering at the Skeleton run. She’s designed an incredible, creative sweater to wear around while the Olympic festivities take her outside. You’ve got to see it. You’ll also enjoy her candid shots of Whistler during the Games and her perspective on the important moments of the day. Yes, I did tear up when I saw this post of hers – something triggered by the mental picture I conjured of the incredible feeling of achievement those athletes must be feeling to be wearing their team gear and walking those streets.
This interview with Bilodeau after his gold medal win conveys such a humble joy. It is grace and dignity and non-ego and it is, therefore, to be watched and delighted in. (I hope the link works for you even outside Canada. I know many American links to videos won’t let me watch them.)
And for a bit of Olympic humour, a strategy for the Games of 2030.
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”Happy is he who has laid up in his youth, and held fast in all fortune,
a genuine and passionate love of reading.”
Rufus Choate
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What did you love to read as a child?
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The yoke was done. I’d joined in the round and started working my way down the body. But something was off. The line for the raglan seemed wider than long, as though things were off. I tried it on and the body was too wide.
So.
I looked at everything pretty carefully and I decided to keep the increase at the same rate and the cast on the same number. What I’ve changed is to increase the proportion of the arms. So there are 18 sts in the initial row rather than 12. Which makes them wider. We’ll see. I’ve got wee bird-like arms and a fairly thin torso, but I’m starting to think I need more depth in the armscythe.
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It’s a big ball of yarn and I’m going at it again. I’m hoping that I’ve got it right this time. I can handle this restart. A third time would be really disheartening.
Rainer went into the basement and dug through his secret stash of German chocolates. Olympia Ritter Sport was of great assistance in facing the task of redoing the math and believing in the process enough to overcome the inertia created by a false start.
In the meantime, I’m a happy camper. The Winter Olympics rank right in the top 5 television experiences for me. The speed, the quirky sports, the stories of people just like us doing incredible things… I’ve always loved the Winter Games. Last time we didn’t see much at all since we don’t have any reception here, choosing to watch only DVDs. It’s largely a parenting choice but it’s had incredible affects on my contentment to be ad-free. But this time the internet has figured things out and we can hook our TV up to the computer and watch it all on live-stream.
Lots to knit and lots to watch. Brilliant.
Shhh. I’m counting and they’re being epic on the TV.
We watched the Opening Ceremonies at my parents’ house. Everyone made their own pita pizzas. A huge salad. A dark walk in a snowy world. Wonderful Opening Ceremonies. Kids colouring in the parading countries on maps. Casting on my vest.
“Yes, we say ‘zed’.” Everyone in the room snorted and grinned. What a Canadian thing to say.
The show dazzled me. I’m not usually into these mega-things. But this was uncluttered, clean, unexpected. The painting with light that they did was breathtaking.
I spent the morning doing vest maths. At certain times it felt like my brain was breaking, which really shouldn’t happen with a simple raglan. But I want to ensure the neckline is wide enough that I won’t get any itch-factor, and I want the sleeves to be nice and narrow. I started with “Knitting from the Top Down” by Walker and then consulted “Custom Knits” by Bernard. Right now, I feel like I can cast on tonight without too much trepidation about my design.
About the source of the cable…When we were in Austria we went to an open air museum near Graz – an incredible place full of old farmhouses from all the regions of Austria. Sweet, practical, evocative designs for living. I caught a glimpse of knitting in the store window and bought one of three volumes of traditional twisted stitch cables. Then I regretted only buying one and so had my in-laws bring the other two.
You can buy them in English as one volume: Twisted-Stitch Knitting by Maria Erlbacher.
The book uses its own symbols (in the German-language edition at least). Sometimes they trip me up a bit, but they also make it super clear what the cable is doing – like the cable’s actually drawn in front of you. It’s a method that I could see using to design my own cables.
I’ve changed my mind about the design of the vest. I had thought to base the vest on the Devon that I knit last year for Vest-uary. It is done seamlessly from the bottom.
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Since I added a panel of lattice to it last year, I knew that adding a cable panel would work well.
But I would like to have the cap sleeves in addition to as much length as I can and a top-down raglan done with tiny sleeves is the simplest method I can think of to achieve that. The notion of a little, grey, cabled T shirt makes me a little giddy.
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I’ve been a layering kind of girl for a good 8 years and I can’t see why it’s taken me so long to think of knitting a T-shirt layer so that I can mix warmth with the look occasionally. I mean, I know I’m cold-blooded like a lizard and all, but I’m not always in the mood for sweaters.
And, frankly, the fact that anything is exciting me is something I need to follow. Because of this:
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It’s getting to be late winter, with the promise of spring is still months away. That means that my usual late winter feelings are here, even with the use of the full-spectrum light box. The light therapy keeps my energy levels pretty normal, my winter depression at bay, and most of those food cravings away. But I still feel winter’s largeness peeling away at my zest for life, my contentment with the life of deep family involvement that I’ve chosen. I’ve been feeling it more and more these past few weeks, like peeling layers off an onion.
So if anything makes me a little more interested in life, a little more like laughing, a little more like myself, than that’s something I’m going to follow.
Swatched.
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The vest I am designing to be knit during the frenzy that is the Knitting Olympics/Ravelympics. It’s a twisted stitch cable from my much poured-over trio of books on Austrian twisted stitch cables. I can spend hours just staring at those patterns. I love the curves of this pattern, the sinuous circular forms so seldom seen in knitting.
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Questions I’m asking myself:
Do I want to border the cable panel with a line of single twisted stitch on either side or do I prefer the look of it alone on the purled background?
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Do I want to do a simple twisted rib as edging or go with a repeat of a cable - either the X or the O variation?
(I played with this second cable. Staring at it for a while while knitting a simple sock, I realized that if I knit certain rows I’d get an X instead of the beautiful O. So I tried it out. It worked like a charm!)
Do I want to try for a more tunic length given the amount of yarn I have?
Do I want to put little cap sleeves on? (Inspired by this and this.)
What fun that Vest-uary, the Olympics, and my love of grey knitwear are all coming together!
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“We cannot seek or attain health, wealth, learning, justice or kindness in general. Action is always specific, concrete, individualized, unique.”
Benjamin Jowett
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Today I extend compassion to myself: I am allowing myself to stay in pyjamas all morning. What are you doing to be kind, learned, just, or wise?
